UV Laser Photo-Reduction of Graphene Oxide and Graphene Fluoride for the Efficient Tuning of their Nonlinear Optical Response

In the present work, some recent results are presented concerning the use of UV laser reduction of fluorinated graphene and graphene oxide in order to modify their optical and nonlinear optical properties in a controlled way. The photo-reduction was achieved using 355 nm UV light from a 4 ns Nd:YAG laser, while the NLO properties of the derivatives were studied by means of the Z-scan technique, employing 4 ns, visible (532 nm) laser excitation. It is shown that the modification of the degree of oxidation/fluorination of the two graphene derivatives, can greatly alter their optical and their nonlinear optical response. The present results demonstrate the efficiency of the reduction by UV laser light, for the efficient modulation and tuning of the nonlinear response of graphene oxide and fluorinated graphene in view of specific applications in photonics and optoelectronics.